Some Arizona Schools Hold Rallies Before Teacher Walkout

By Bret Jaspers, Steve Goldstein
Published: Monday, April 23, 2018 - 10:03pm
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(Photo by Bret Jaspers - KJZZ)
People rally in support of #RedForEd at Alhambra High School in Phoenix.

Teachers in Arizona are preparing to walkout on Thursday. Ahead of that, some schools are seeing quick rallies ahead of the first morning bell.

In Alhambra High School in West Phoenix, part of the Phoenix Union High School District, there was a strong contingent of teachers taking a trip out to Camelback Road right before school started.

Alejandrina Mejia is a science teacher there and she said walking out this week is what they have to do.

"I think is, we have to do it," she said. "We have to continue doing it. Even if we lose a week, and we have to teach an extra week later, I’m okay with that."

Gov.  Ducey vetoed several Republican-sponsored bills on Friday. He gave identical veto messages on each one: “Please send me a budget that gives teachers a 20 percent pay raise by 2020 and restores additional [school district] assistance.” 

“Our teachers have earned this raise,” the governor said. “It’s time to get it done.”

But did that move any teachers?

Theo Evans, a chemistry teacher at Alhambra said, "I mean, yes, it’s okay, he’s trying to work on something. But no, because he’s still trying to play somewhat of a shell game instead of just having some sort of sustainable revenue funding. He still just wants to move some from column A some from column B just to make us happy."

The upcoming walkout has also affected this year's lesson plans. Evans said he bumped up an exam for his students from Thursday to Wednesday. He said his students weren’t super happy about that but he told them the impending walkout was for them in the larger sense that education needs investment.

Also, Mike Miller, Earth and Space Science teacher was out there rallying with his colleagues but he planned to work on Thursday because there’s a Grand Canyon trip scheduled that they just can’t re-schedule.

"It’s such an opportunity for these students that most of them have never been out of the Valley of the Sun," he said.

Q. Did you see any students out there with their teachers?

A few students were also rallying beside their teachers.

Alexis Delgado Garcia, a junior at Alhambra said, "they don’t want them to get out of hand, or like, something to happen to them. So like they don’t want them to take action and they just want them to be secure and have safety."

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